Despite three successful albums -- all platinum or gold in the U.S. and platinum in its native Canada -- Toronto's Three Days Grace tweaked things on its just-released "Transit of Venus."

The sound, according to drummer Neil Sanderson, is "a little more complex and articulated a bit more," with a more spacious approach to the mix. Some might see that as messing with something that works, but Sanderson says he and his bandmates think that's how to maintain succes.

"You don't want to do the same thing over and over and over again," he explains. "The consenus within our band was there's this tired kind of cookie-cutter thing that's been going on. A lo tof bands and producers have been making the mistake of thinking that heavy rock records mean that you have to have layer upon layer of chugging guitars and singing about breathing and suffocating.

"We definitely wanted to dig a little deeper and really kind of think outside of the box with respect to that. If we can lead the pack, in a way, that's exciting for us. And so far the reaction has been really positive; people can see that we are evolving and not afraid to take chances."

One of the other surprises on "Transit of Venues" is a cover of Michael Jackson's "Give In To Me," which Sanderson says came from simply jamming in rehearsals and dressing rooms.

"We were always commenting how much ahead of its time that song was," says Sanderson, 33. "We just started jamming it out, and it sounded great. WE didn't realy make a conscious decision to align it with his untimely death or anything like that; it just sounded good, and it sounded liek us. Most people didn't even realize it was a Michael Jackson song, which is cool."